Ideology, Knowledge, and Society in the Eastern Mediterranean

Ideology, Knowledge, and Society in the Eastern Mediterranean

Fourth International Graduate Student Conference of CEMS
Central European University
Budapest, 4-6 June 2015

Conference Description:

One of the key objectives of the workshop is to work against the grain of long-established disciplinary boundaries by discussing the ways in which ideology and knowledge were inherited, transmitted, and exchanged in all areas of society in diachronic and synchronic terms:

• How was ideology or knowledge – referring to theory of knowledge (from philosophy to political thought) as well as its practical applications (technology, warfare etc.) – particularized through accommodation, modification, and departure once it was inherited? 
• Under what circumstances and frameworks can one see genuine curiosity, selective accommodation, and outright rejection of cultural interaction within and/or across polity/polities?

Papers will be invited to present case studies and reflect upon the question of how, in an increasingly diversi?ed and specialized academic environment, meaningful comparative and/or longue-durée studies across disciplines and source languages (inter alia, Latin, Greek, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Syriac, Coptic, Hebrew), can be accomplished.

Possible themes include, but are not limited to:
• Philosophy and Science in the Late Antique, Byzantine, and Ottoman Worlds
• History of Learning and Culture
• Religious Debate and Philosophical Dialogue
• Byzantine Literature
• Legal Thought and Practice
• Political Thought and the Art of Rulership
• Intellectual History and History of Reading
• History Writing, Memory, and Identity
• Knowledge and Authority in Byzantium
• Cultural Translation and Knowledge Production
• Artistic Interaction and Exchange in the Mediterranean
• Ideology and Legitimation of Power
• Performance in Byzantium
• Cultural History of Warfare and Transfer of Military Technology

Confirmed Keynote Speakers:

George Karamanolis (University of Vienna)
Helen Pfeifer (University of Cambridge)

Accommodation and Travel Grants

All participants will be offered accommodation for the full duration of the conference at CEU Residence Center. A limited amount of travel grants are available to encourage participation from a wide range of individuals and institutions. Those who wish to be considered for the grant should include an additional justification in their paper proposals.

Organizing Committee

Ivan Mari? (PhD Student, Department of Medieval Studies)
Nirvana Silnovi? (PhD Student, Department of Medieval Studies, CEMS Junior Member Representative)
H. Evren Sünnetçio?lu (PhD Student, Department of Medieval Studies)
Máté Veres (PhD Student, Department of Philosophy)

For further information, do not hesitate to contact the organizers at [email protected] or at our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/cemsgrad2015).